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F. H. RICHARDS.

METHOD OF MAKING BUTTON FASTENERS.

No. 331,822, Patented Dec. 8, 1885.

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FRANCIS H. RICHARDS, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASS, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERI- CAN BUTTON FASTENER COMPANY, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONN.

METHOD OF MAKING BUTTON-FASTENERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 331,822, dated December 8, 1885.

Application filed April 4, 1885. Serial No. 161,249.

To all 2072 0722, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANCIS H. RICHARDS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden, State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Method of Making Button-Fasteners, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof, in which-- Figure 1 is a side view of a flanged rod from which the fasteners are cut off. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the same rod. Fig. 3 is a similar view of the fasteners out off from the rod shown in the preceding figures.

r 5 Similar characters designate the same parts in all the views.

This invention relates to improvements in methods of making button-fasteners like or similar to that shown and described in application Serial No. 114,781, filed December 17,

1883. The object is to furnish a method whereby that class of button-fasteners may be made to have more desirable proportions and be manufactured without any waste of material;

and to this end it consists in the elements hereinafter described and claimed.

In carrying my improved method into efect I first roughly prepare the metal-as steel, iron, or brass, or other metal rodsin a form 0 which approximates that shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This I do by the process of casting, rolling, or by other well-known methods. Next, 1 d1 vest these rods of all objectionable dirt and scale, if they have any, and finish them, preferably, by the ordinary rolling or wire-drawing process, to the exact shape and sizein crosssection which the fasteners to be made should have, so that the web W corresponds to the prong P, and the flanges N M have a concave o form corresponding to the curved head H of (No model.)

the finished fastener. The rods being thus finished, I convert them into button-fasteners of the class described by severing said rods into short lengths, as shown by the dotted lines a a a in Fig. l.

In finishing the rods preparatory to cutting them the flanges N M are preferably hardwrought, the metal in these being condensed by cold rolling or swaging, to give the heads of the fasteners greater hardness and rigidity, so that said head can be made less thick and yet have ample strength. In this case, the web W not being affected, the prong Pmay be bent over into a hook as readily as before. The fasteners made by this method are readily in- 5 5 sorted by means of setting-instruments similar to those now employed for setting other one-prong button-fasteners. These fasteners have an advantage over similar fasteners cut from a sheet of metal, in that the bearing-sun faces T S are smooth, while the cut surfaces 0 are on the sides, where they do not tend to so rapidly wear the fabric in which they are set. They also have a better appearance when set,

as the smooth instead of the cut surface is most prominent.

Having th us described my present improvement, what I claim as my invention is- The herein-described method of making button-fasteners having soft-wrought prongs and hard-wrought heads, as specified, it consisting in first shaping the metal into a flanged rod, then hardening the flanges, substantially as described, and then severing the rod into short lengths, substantially as set forth.

FRANCIS H. RICHARDS.

Witnesses:

Gno. A. REYNoLDs, Gno. M. BEERS. 

